Electronic displays have become useful for not only indoor entertainment purposes, but are now being utilized for indoor and outdoor advertising/informational purposes. For example, liquid crystal displays (LCDs), plasma displays, organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays, and many other flat panel displays are now being used to display information and advertising materials to consumers in locations outside of their own home or within airports, arenas, stadiums, restaurants/bars, gas station pumps, bus stops, billboards, and even moving displays on the tops of automobiles or on the sides of trucks. Furthermore, the popularity of high-definition television (HDTV) has created a demand for high-quality displays where previously a lower quality would suffice.
The use of these electronic displays in public, outdoor environments poses several issues. One such issue is exposure to the elements. High winds may interact with a variety of objects and cause them to strike the display panel. A variety of liquids may also come into contact with the display panel. These liquids may include, but are not limited to rain, sleet, snow, and any number of consumer liquids such as alcohol, cleaning products, paint, acidic liquids, saliva, and soda. A further issue related to the use of these displays in public environments is the risk of vandalism. Some members of the public may choose to throw objects at the display, punch or kick the display, or paint/mark the display with various types of graffiti.
Thus, there exists a need for a front panel for an electronic display which can sustain impacts from various objects and liquids. Further, an exemplary panel should resist damage such as scratches or cracks. If the panel were to crack, an exemplary panel would not shatter, but would simply crack. Further, even if the panel were to crack or break, the object causing this damage should not be permitted to penetrate into the display.
There exists a need for a durable panel as described above, which can also satisfy the demanding requirements of outdoor usage for high-definition displays. Thus, an exemplary panel would have high clarity, such that the image from the display is not distorted. Further, an exemplary panel would have anti-reflective properties to account for interfering light sources such as sunlight and other light-producing devices (streetlights, vehicle lights, signs, decorative lights, and the reflections from any of these devices off any surrounding surfaces).
The exemplary embodiments herein disclosed are not intended to be exhaustive or to unnecessarily limit the scope of the embodiments. The exemplary embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain the principles so that others skilled in the art may practice the embodiments. Having shown and described exemplary exemplary embodiments, those skilled in the art will realize that many variations and modifications may be made to affect the described invention. Many of those variations and modifications will provide the same result and fall within the spirit of the exemplary embodiments. It is the intention, therefore, to limit the embodiments only as indicated by the scope of the claims.